Back in black: In photos this week

Image: Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP
Madonna, the Queen of Pop, performs onstage in a halo headpiece during a free concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 4, 2024. Madonna ended her seven-month 'The Celebration Tour' with her biggest-ever show attended by some 1.6 million enthusiastic fans.

Image: Punit PARANJPE / AFP
A caretaker takes his horse for a dip in the sea on a hot summer day in Mumbai on May 8, 2024. As temperatures soar across India, several states have announced early summer vacations for schools to ensure the well-being of students amid the scorching heatwave.

Also read: Desperate Thirst: Climate change and recurrent water crisis plaguing West Bengal's Purulia district in India

Image: AFP
Palestinians use flashlights to look for survivors in a residential building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024, amidst the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas.

Image: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters
Visitors tour an exhibition at Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial centre to the victims of the Holocaust, in Jerusalem on May 5, 2024.  This year's Holocaust Remembrance Day comes amidst the ongoing war in Gaza, where Hamas is still holding more than 100 Israeli hostages, and almost 35,000 people have been killed during a retaliatory military operation by Israel.
 
Image: Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
Ethiopian Orthodox faithful take part in the Holy Fire ceremony at the Ethiopian section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on May 4, 2024, to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem's Old City. While most Western churches observe Easter on March 31, Eastern Orthodox churches follow the older Julian calendar, marking the holiday worldwide on Sunday.
 
Image: Angela Weiss / AFP
In a head-turning flamenco-inspired dress based on a 1951 Balenciaga gown, US-Australian actress Nicole Kidman poses for the press at the 2024 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024, in New York. The Gala, a fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, had 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion' as its theme for this year.

Also read: Met Gala 2024: Of sleeping beauties in the garden of time
 
Image: R.Satish BABU / AFP
A sprawling banyan tree offers shelter from the noonday sun at Marina Beach during a hot summer day in Chennai on May 3, 2024.

Image: Mario Vazquez / AFP
A volunteer firefighter works to put out a fire among charred trees in the community of Pinal de Marquesado in Otzoloapan, Mexico State, on May 6, 2024. On Monday, the National Forestry Commission (Conafor) reported that currently there are 131 active fires in 21 Mexican states, which have burned some 63,000 hectares, and 19 of them are in protected natural areas.

Image: Anselmo CUNHA / AFP
Volunteers form a human corridor to receive boats with people rescued from flooded areas at the Sao Joao neighbourhood in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil on May 7, 2024. Since the unprecedented deluge started last week, at least 85 people have died, and more than 150,000 were ejected from their homes by floods and mudslides in Rio Grande do Sul state, authorities said.

Image: LOIC VENANCE / AFP
Protesters protect themselves with open umbrellas during altercations with French anti-riot police during a May Day (Labour Day) rally, marking International Workers' Day, in Nantes, western France, on May 1, 2024. The CGT union said more than 200,000 people took to the streets across France, making demands ranging from better salaries to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Also read: International Workers Day: In celebration of hands that endeavour

Image: Joel KOWSKY / NASA / AFP
This handout photo shows a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeingís CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard on the launch pad illuminated by spotlights at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test on May 5, 2024, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will blast off on the years-delayed flight on May 6 for a weeklong stay on the International Space Station (ISS).

Image: Joris Bolomey / AFP
A man counts the votes at a polling station in N'Djamena on May 6, 2024, during the presidential election in Chad. The polls mark the end of a transition to democracy by the ruling military government, one of several currently in power in West and Central Africa. But some experts say the vote is just to formalise the military's hold on power. Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world, with at least 40 percent of the 17 million population living below the poverty line.